World News & Politics

Even if the sun doesn't shine for three days, this island can still maintain electricity.

Ta’u, an island in American Samoa, used to run off crude oil but is now entirely powered by a solar array and battery packs. This was made possible thanks to green tech business Tesla/Solar City (which recently merged), as well as the American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior, all of which helped fund the $8 million venture.

According to Radio New Zealand, the island previously used as much as 300 gallons of fuel a day (that’s 109,500 a year!) to power itself. At times, the island’s 600 residents would wait months for fuel shipments. In effect, electricity had to be rationed and power outages were common. Now, however, the island can go three days without sun and still maintain electricity. When the sun does shine, the microgrid can recharge to full capacity in only seven hours.

After receiving notice of the US Army Corps' plan to evict peaceful protestors from their camps, Sioux tribal leaders have responded with dignity and defiance, promising to stay put in defense of their land and people.

Throughout the months of protests against the controversial Dakota Access pipeline project, the federal government has tried to “spin” its indirect support for the project in order to quell national outrage and prevent further growth of the resistance movement. In September, the Department of Justice ordered a temporary halt to all construction on the pipeline as the government “reconsidered” its approval for the project. However, construction never stopped as the injunction was voluntary and Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline’s parent company, continued building. Then again, last month, the US Army Corps of Engineers ordered another temporary halt on construction, which was also ignored, while the Corps held “talks” with the tribes leading the resistance.

The US Navy is set to release massive amounts of explosives and contaminants along the country's Western coast over the next 20 years.

Several times a year, the US publicizes its “war games,” both domestic and abroad, allowing the massive, heavily-funded US military to showcase its might, develop new strategies, and test combat readiness. Yet, ignored all too often is the environmental impact of these exercises which, since World War I, have left behind tons of bombs, heavy metals, explosives, depleted uranium, missiles, and sonar buoys, which contaminate the world’s oceans and harm humans and marine animals alike. Even though the outright dumping of chemical weapons was banned in 1972, the Navy has continued to carry out a policy of “leaving behind” munitions and explosives following its military exercises. The Navy, for its part, insists that the “contamination of the marine environment by munitions constituent is not well documented,” though critics insist that the Navy has intentionally not looked for or measured its environmental impacts.

The two-time Academy Award winner will help serve a Wopila Feast to the activists at Standing Rock; in addition, she’s donating four Mongolian yurts.

Since spring 2016, supporters of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe have been protesting the construction of a four-state Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Despite being tased, beaten with batons, tear gassed, and even shot with rubber bullets, the ‘water protectors’ continue to camp out on private land which, according to tribal leaders, rightfully belongs to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe under an 1851 treaty.

Everyone wanted a pair of Adidas’ sneakers made from illegal fishing nets in 2015, which is why the company is mass-producing 1 million more to sell.

In 2015, Adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans to create a shoe which truly was a step in the right direction for its company. The innovative sneakers were made out of discarded plastic waste and illegal fishing nets taken from the sea.

At the time, it seemed like everyone wanted a pair. However, Adidas only made fifty of the eco-friendly shoes. Because demand for the environmentally-responsible running shoes has been high, the company recently announced that it will make one million pairs by 2017. The best part? The first mass-manufactured lot (about 7,000) will drop sometime this month.

The US Army Corps of Engineers have announced that they will delay granting Dakota Access the necessary easements to drill under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River until “discussion and analysis” with the Standing Rock Sioux can take place.

Thousands of people have joined protests decrying Trump's surprise win in the US presidential election, though evidence suggests that at least some of the protests are being funded and organized by one very notorious billionaire.

Since Donald Trump won the presidential election last week, the media has been fixated on his every move and statement. This has had negative reprecussions for activists near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, where development of the four-state Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) continues, despite federal orders mandating for it to be stopped.

Activists and “water protectors” who have been camped out and protesting since Spring have gone to extreme lengths to halt its construction. Supporters of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe believe that the DAPL’s development will not only contaminate the Missouri river, but will uproot sacred burial ground. With Donald Trump in the spotlight, the threat to the activists’ movement has never been greater.

Category:

In a major victory for several nations and millions of people around the world, the White House has announced moments ago that Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress has said that they won’t try to advance the Trans Pacific Partnership as they know a Trump administration will be completely opposed to it. This makes the TPP, a trade agreement that has been protested on a global scale, now effectively dead in the water. As the Wall Street Journal reports:

The failure to pass what is by far the biggest trade agreement in more than a decade is abitter defeat for Mr. Obama, whose belated but fervent support for freer trade divided his party and complicated the campaign of Mrs. Clinton. The TPP’s collapse also dents American prestige in the region at a time when China is flexing its economic and military muscle.